FBR decision to inspect proper import documents welcomed

LAHORE: Pakistan FMCG Importers Association (PFIA) has welcomed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) decision to inspect the proper import documents of foreign items present in the market to curb the smuggling with an iron hand.

PFIA leadership said that it was raising voice time and again to take solid steps to check the smuggling as it was not only hurting the interest of law-abiding importers but also depriving the national kitty from its due share.

In a joint statement issued here on Monday, PFIA Chairman Anjum Nisar, Senior Vice Chairman Nafees Barry, Vice Chairman Ejaz Tanveer and Secretary General Ali Mattoo also called for taking on board the real representatives of genuine importers so as to devise an effective line of action against smugglers and smuggled items. Increase in the regulatory duties on different imported items in recent past was due to the same menace as increasing smuggling of imported items was depriving the government from revenue and genuine importers from being competitive in the market, they added.

They claimed that a parallel economy had emerged because of smuggling in the country which was neither beneficial for the government nor the country. They urged all the stakeholders to join hands with the FBR and other institutions to curb this menace.